Reminder Email

Attachment E – Survey Reminder Email:

Please discard this email if you have already completed the CDC/APHL NGS Quality Survey. We would like to thank you for your cooperation.

Dear _______________

This is a gentle reminder that APHL and CDC need your help to assess the implementation of next-generation sequencing (NGS) as a diagnostic tool in public health laboratories (PHLs) at federal, state, and local levels. While NGS is transforming how we investigate disease and disorders, there is a recognized need for quality management systems (QMS) that ensure the synthesis of high quality, reliable data that is useful for diagnostic/reference testing and relevant to nationwide disease surveillance systems. Your laboratory has been identified as conducting NGS diagnostic and/or reference testing and your participation in this survey will help CDC and APHL determine the current, NGS-specific QMS landscape at the state and local level, assess the use of and barriers to implementing a QMS, identify resources allocated for NGS, and aid in the development of future tools and resources that support NGS-specific QMS. Completing this survey is voluntary and takes approximately 40 minutes. There are no known risks or direct benefits to you from participating or choosing not to participate. Data collected from this survey will be stored on secure, password-protected servers maintained by and only accessible to APHL. Upon closing of the survey, aggregated results that have been stripped of personally identifying information will be transferred from APHL to CDC for analysis.

While this email has been sent to public health laboratory directors, completion of this survey may require input from multiple departments. We recommend consultation with a quality manager, or designee, who oversees quality-related aspects of your laboratory’s NGS testing. Laboratory directors are asked to collate all responses and answer the survey as one program.

Please complete this assessment by the close of business on [Day/Month/Year].

Use the following link to access the survey [hyperlink].

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the staff below:

• Technical Questions (e.g., survey navigation, access): [APHL contact]

• Content: [APHL contact]

• Information about QMS for NGS: [email protected]

Your participation is extremely important and we thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

_______________________________

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